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Eva Kohler
}} |} Eva Marie Kohler (born April 29th, 2762, Kien, Crownland of Hulstria) is a Hulstrian politician who was the Chairman of the Socialist Party of Greater Hulstria between 2818 and 2836, a parliamentarian for the Crownland of Hulstria between 2800 and 2836, and Minister of Justice between 2824 and 2836 An unlikely politician, Kohler rose through the ranks by engineering the Socialist Party's return to national politics after the party was forced to leave national politics due to a massive ponzi scheme that had brought it to the brink of collapse. By cutting costs and refocusing campaigns off of highly centralized, yet expensive, campaigns, to grass roots movements, she earned praise as a skillfull politician and manager, and was the leading candidate to succeed Maggie Bauer-Chamberlain as Chairman, which she did in 2818. He colorful personality and tendancy to speak her mind has earned much respect and love within the Socialist Party, but has caused great hostility with a few, most notably the leadership of the Christian Liberal Alliance. Early Life Kohler was born Eva Marie Frei on April 29, 2762 in Kleinstadt, a tiny village twenty miles outside Pfathzburg, Hulstria. Her father, Karl, owned a small dairy farm on the outskirts of town, and her mother, Eva, stayed at home to take care of her eleven children. When the young Eva was nine years old, a virus wiped out almost all of the cows on the farm, leaving the family in poverty. The following month, the bank took possession of the farm and evicted the family, which soon moved to a cramped apartment in the poverty stricken Mormon Quarter of Kien, with both her father and mother taking a job at a factory making textiles to be used by the army. At the time, the Independent City State of Moroni was in the process of being reannexed into Greater Hulstria, which coincided with the Mormon Socialist Party's return to Hulstrian politics. The party soon set up a large office in the Mormon Quarter, and, despite being Lutheran, Eva and her siblings were greatly influenced by the party, with most of the children eventually becoming involved in some way with the local party office. Eva was the first to go to work for the party, which later became the Socialist Party of Greater Hulstria, at the age of sixteen, handing out fliers and pamphlets in support of socialist candidates. One of those whom she worked for early on was Ambrose Bauer, who represented her district in the Imperial Diet, and became friends with his daughter [Bauer-Chamberlain|Maggie. At the age of eighteen, after excelling at school and despite being desperately poor, she was admitted to the Mormon University of Kien. At the time, little assistance was given by the government for education, so, in addition to her studies and her job at the party office, she took a job in the mill her mother and father worked at. Despite this, she still managed to get a 4.0 GPA, and in her second year recieved the prestigious Jane O'Neil Memorial Scholarship, which is granted by the Socialist Party to the student within it's ranks "who shows the greatest work ethic and dedication to the causes that the Socialist Party fights for." As a result, she was able to quite her job in the mill. In 2783, she graduated from the Mormon University with a 4.2 GPA and a degree in law, and established a law firm known as Frei and Kohler, with her friend Alexandra Kohler. Housewife Eventually, she fell in love with Kohler's brother, Xavier, a banker who worked in Downtown Kien. The two got married in 2786 when she was 24. The following year, she got pregnant with her first son, Erik, and she left the firm to raise a family. From 2787 to 2800, she would give birth to nine children. In 2799, shortly after she got pregnant with her final child, Franz, Xavier was laid off following the collapse of the bank and subsequent liquidation. The family had no means of recieving income other than a local Lutheran charity and a generous loan from her friend Maggie Bauer-Chamberlain. At the time, despite much opposition, government assistance to the poor had been cut by the more libertarian parties in the Imperial Diet, led by the Christian Liberal Alliance. Years later, Kohler would admit this played a strong part in her dislike for the CLA, but said it was mostly due to the contempt and disrespect the CLA leadership showed towards her and the SPGH alike. Furious, she once again took a job with the Socialist Party in order to advocate for those like her, and eventually was recruited by the local party leadership to run for the Imperial Diet. Entrance Into Politics In 2800, she ran for a seat being vacated by the retiring Socialist Parliamentarian Felix Kirk. During the primary contest, she came out with over 75% of the vote, despite facing four opponents. Most credit this with her colorful personality, her blunt and honest way of speaking, and humble beginnings that connected well with the voters of the impoverished Mormon Quarter. Seeing the results of the primary, no other party put up candidates to challenge her, and she was elected to the Imperial Diet with 100% of votes cast. She came to be known within the Diet as an outspoken and larger than life parliamentarian, and garnered both great respect from her allies and great animosity from her foes, mainly members of the CLA. In 2802, she became a member of the Socialist Party Board of Selectman, and was seen as a rising star within the party. She was a firm ally of Chairman Maggie Bauer-Chamberlain, her old friend. In 2803, she once again ran unopposed for her seat. Great Financial Crisis But the following year, the Socialist Party was the victim of a massive ponzi scheme run by financier Fritz Farben. The party had invested a great deal of its reserves with Farben under the Chairmanship of John Sato. The scheme left the Socialist Party near bankruptcy, and it left the national scene later in the year. Without the Socialist Party to support her, Kohler then ran as an independent (although she still maintained her voter affiliation with the SPGH and remained as a selectman) in 2806, and once again ran unopposed. The party continued to flounder financially for the next five years, losing more and more local elections and it's leadership facing increasing pressure from opponents to step down. Bauer-Chamberlain, facing this pressure, in 2810 choose Kohler to led the effort to rebuild the party and return it to financial health. She immediately set about cutting costs, doing everything from closing entire offices and selling real estate to turning off the lights at Thatcher House. Her main focus was moving the party away from highly centralized campaigns, which were extemely expensive to the party, to grass roots campaigns. She also ended the party's practice of renting out massive sports arenas and stadiums for high profile candidates, and instead opted for smaller, more intimate, rallies in smaller halls, auditoriums, parks, and schools. She introduced new measures to reduce the party's exposure to the market by greatly limiting the amount it could invest. Instead, she turned to private donations and money earned from real estate sales to fund the party's operations. Within two years, the balance sheets showed a positive revenue flow for the first time since 2804. The transition to grass roots campaigning and smaller rallies clicked with the voters, who returned to the party in droves. In 2815, the party was deemed healthy enough to return to national politics, and the party won a massive 218 seats in the Diet, and once again became the largest in the legislature. Kohler became a party officer in the Diet, helping to craft legislation, including the Indralan Arms Embargo Act of 2816. Heir Apparent After her performance leading the party back to financial health, she was widely considered to be the leading candidate for the Chairmanship of the Socialist Party. For the next three years, Kohler often overshadowed Bauer-Chamberlain at rallies, and was closely followed by the media. Her comments were reported on daily by newspapers, including the Greater Hulstrian Chronicle, especially when they landed her in hot water. In 2817, when tense cabinet negotiations between were going on in the Diet, she remarked that she believed "the leadership of the Christian Liberal Alliance is made up of nothing but impotent old men." Two weeks later, she said the CLA was "the greatest threat to democracy on Dovani." When Bauer-Chamberlain announced before the general election that she would step down afterwards, no matter what the results were, the focus immediately turned to Kohler, who wasted no time in throwing her hat into the ring. On the day of her announcement, she recieved the endorsement of Bauer-Chamberlain, as well as the entire Board of Selectman. Because of this, Kohler ran unopposed for the Chairmanship. Chairmanship Kohler officially assumed the office of Chairman from Bauer-Chamberlain in November, 2818. She immediately set about trying to find a resolution to the cabinet crisis, in which several seats in the cabinet had been vacant for several years. Together with the Fascist Authority Party, she proposed a united cabinet in which all parties had an equal share of the power. Despite the generous offer, the Christian Liberals, despite a great reduction in it's seat total and influence, refused to accept it, holding out for a better deal. Kohler continued to press the issue, but to no avail, and a new cabinet was not put into place before the election of 2821. In 2821, Kohler led the party to it's greatest election victory to date, bringing its seat total to 279 seats. In 2824, a united cabinet agreement was reached, with Kohler becoming the Minister of Justice. A few months later, the Socialist Party picked up an additional 19 seats, bringing it's seat total to 298 seats. Category:People of Greater Hulstria Category:Greater Hulstria Category:Socialist Party of Greater Hulstria